托福阅读真题Official 50 Passage 3（三）

托福阅读真题Official 50 Passage 3（三）

Star Death

Until the early-to mid-twentieth century,scientists believed that stars generate energy by shrinking.As stars contracted,it was thought,they would get hotter and hotter,giving off light in the process.This could not be the primary way that stars shine,however.If it were,they would scarcely last a million years,rather than the billions of years in age that we know they are.We now know that stars are fueled by nuclear fusion.Each time fusion takes place,energy is released as a by-product.This energy,expelled into space,is what we see as starlight.The fusion process begins when two hydrogen nuclei smash together to form a particle called the deuteron(a combination of a positive proton and a neutral neutron).Deuterons readily combine with additional protons to form helium.Helium,in turn,can fuse together to form heavier elements,such as carbon.In a typical star,merger after merger takes place until significant quantities of heavy elements are built up.

We must distinguish,at this point,between two different stellar types:Population I and Population II,the latter being much older than the former.These groups can also be distinguished by their locations.Our galaxy,the Milky Way,is shaped like a flat disk surrounding a central bulge.Whereas Population I stars are found mainly in the galactic disk,Population II stars mostly reside in the central bulge of the galaxy and in the halo surrounding this bulge.

Population II stars date to the early stages of the universe.Formed when the cosmos was filled with hydrogen and helium gases,they initially contained virtually no heavy elements.They shine until their fusible material is exhausted.When Population II stars die,their material is spread out into space.Some of this dust is eventually incorporated into newly formed Population I stars.Though Population I stars consist mostly of hydrogen and helium gas,they also contain heavy elements(heavier than helium),which comprise about 1 or 2 percent of their mass.These heavier materials are fused from the lighter elements that the stars have collected.Thus,Population I stars contain material that once belonged to stars from previous generations.The Sun is a good example of a Population I star.

What will happen when the Sun dies.In several billion years,our mother star will burn much brighter.It will expend more and more of its nuclear fuel,until little is left of its original hydrogen.Then,at some point in the far future,all nuclear reactions in the Sun’s center will cease.

Once the Sun passes into its“postnuclear”phase,it will separate effectively into two different regions:an inner zone and an outer zone.While no more hydrogen fuel will remain in the inner zone,there will be a small amount left in the outer zone.Rapidly,changes will begin to take place that will serve to tear the Sun apart.The inner zone,its nuclear fires no longer burning,will begin to collapse under the influence of its own weight and will contract into a tiny hot core,dense and dim.An opposite fate will await the outer region,a loosely held-together ball of gas.A shock wave caused by the inner zone’s contraction will send ripples through the dying star,pushing the stellar exterior’s material farther and farther outward.The outer envelope will then grow rapidly,increasing,in a short interval,hundreds of times in size.As it expands,it will cool down by thousands of degrees.Eventually,the Sun will become a red giant star,cool and bright.It will be so large that it will occupy the whole space that used to be the Earth’s orbit and so brilliant that it would be able to be seen with the naked eye thousands of light-years away.It will exist that way for millions of years,gradually releasing the material of its outer envelope into space.Finally,nothing will be left of the gaseous exterior of the Sun;all that will remain will be the hot,white core.The Sun will have become a white dwarf star.The core will shrink,giving off the last of its energy,and the Sun will finally die.

Question 5 of 14

According to paragraphs 2 and 3,all of the following are true of Population I stars EXCEPT:

A.They contain material that was once contained in Population II stars.

B.In terms of their mass,they consist primarily of hydrogen and helium.

C.They contain elements that were formed through the fusion of lighter ones.

D.They generally do not last as long as Population II stars.

Paragraph 2 and 3 are marked with an arrow

正确答案：D

题目详解

题型分类：否定事实信息题

原文定位：根据选项定位。

选项分析：

通读第二、三段，建议用选项中关键词来定位原文，用排除法来解题。

D选项as long as Population II stars无中生有，选择D。

A选项contain material in Population II stars对应第三段第四句Some of this dust is eventually incorporated into...Population I stars。

B选项primarily of hydrogen and helium对应第三段第五句consist mostly of hydrogen and helium gas。

C选项elements that were formed through the fusion对应第三段倒数第三句These heavier materials are fused from the lighter elements。

Question 6 of 14

The word“virtually”in the passage is closest in meaning to

A.absolutely

B.usually

C.almost

D.as a result

正确答案：C

题目详解

题型分类：词汇题

选项分析：

原句的意思是这些恒星是在宇宙充满氢气和氦气的情况下形成的，它们最初virtually不含重元素。氢和氦都是氢元素，因此可以推测这些恒星几乎不含重元素，与C选项相符。Virtually原意为几乎；差不多；事实上；实际上。

A选项absolutely：完全地。

B选项usually：通常地。

D选项as a result：结果。

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